With Sony stating that manufacturing costs for the PlayStation 3 have dropped 70%, and the recent appearance of a “PlayStation 3 – Konsole slim” on Amazon’s German site, everything points to Sony planning either a price drop or a brand new version of its flagship console.

As if to add more evidence to an imminent announcement DigiTimes is reporting that Sony has placed an order for a lot of additional PS3 components. In fact it has ordered double that of the last three months and enough to manufacture 1 million PS3s.

All eyes are now on the German GamesCom show being held in Cologne between August 19-23. Will Sony announce a new price point and/or new slim version of its console this month? Or is this just plans for a big Christmas advertising assault with decent game bundles?